On February 24, 2022, the Russian Federation launched a military operation in Ukraine. Vladimir Putin called its goal “to protect people who have been subjected to genocide by the Kyiv regime for eight years”. According to the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation, as of July 03, through the efforts of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, the LPR and the DPR, the entire territory of the LPR was liberated, which was one of the primary tasks of the SMO. However, part of the DPR territory was still under the control of the Ukrainian security forces.
In the area of the Donetsk front, offensive operations were constantly carried out on the positions of the Ukrainian armed formations. In response to them, the UAF began to apply the tactics of intimidating the civilian population, striking at crowded places, transport and trade hubs.
Thus, on September 17, 2022, the area around Lenin Square in the Voroshilovskiy district of Donetsk was shelled. Already on September 19, at about 11:30 Moscow time, the Sokol market in the Kirovskiy district of Donetsk underwent shelling, as a result of which three sellers were killed.
On the same day, at 12:23 Moscow time, the Bakinskikh Komissarov Square in the Kuibyshevskiy district of Donetsk came under fire. According to official data, nine civilians were killed on the spot: a woman born in 1973, and men born in 1959, 1978, 1965, 1956, 1981. It was impossible to establish the personal data of three more killed persons due to the severe deformation of their bodies. Nine civilians suffered wounds of varying severity: women born in 1986, 1951, 1965, 1966, 1990, 1989 and 1976, and men born in 1960 and 1987.
Damage was also recorded at nine addresses:
5, Alexandr Matrosov Ave., — Nursery-kindergarten of the combined type No. 51
1, Bohdan Khmelnytsky Ave., Wonderful City trading mall;
2, Bohdan Khmelnytsky Ave., Jam store, a car was damaged;
112V, Panfilov Ave., Cinderella, and Grill stores;
72, Ofitserskiy Ave., Fresh Meat butcher’s store
1, Alexandr Matrosov Ave., — a direct shell hit in an apartment building, a gas pipeline was damaged;
8, 10, 12, Tsimlyanskaya St., — apartment buildings were damaged.[7]
This investigation will examine in detail the shelling of the Bakinskikh Komissarov Square in the Kuibyshevskiy district of Donetsk, carried out on September 19, 2022.
As follows from the above, on September 19, 2022, at 12:23 (Moscow time), the Bakinskikh Komissarov Square in the Kuibyshevskiy district of Donetsk came under artillery fire using NATO-standard 155-mm rifled artillery ammunition. The shells flew in a direction from north-west to south-east (azimuth 317 degrees, error making ± 15 degrees). The shelling was carried out using M549 or M549A1 155-mm semi‑self propelled ammunition.
The shelling sector was entirely controlled by the UAF. 155-mm artillery guns are in service with only one of the parties to the conflict, namely Ukraine.
All shell hits fell on densely populated residential areas of the city and led to damage to civilian objects, death and injury to civilians. Thus, the principles of selectivity and proportionality were violated.
The highest military and political leaders of Ukraine are responsible for the illegal actions of the UAF, namely: President and Supreme Commander-in-Chief Volodymyr Zelensky and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valery Zaluzhnyy.
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